Maybe you aren't a big Dave Matthews fan, but I'm sure you've been sitting in the waiting room of your dentist's office and heard the lyrics "Take these chances...." from the song "Ants Marching." And then you want to sing along, but you're not exactly sure how that line finishes up. Or you're like me and you don't care and you just sing random sounds. Well, let's clear up this missing-lyrics mystery:
Take these chances
Place them in a box until a
quieter time
Lights down, you up and die
I hear this song and, by golly, give me a pair of Docs, a dELiA*s catalog, and an episode of teen angst in My So Called Life. Here I come, 1995!
This song, this gem of 90s alt rock, serves to call us out of the mundane. It tells us not to miss out on the beautiful stuff in life while we're busy living, well...life.
You know who would have loved this song? Another great musician, another Dave. King David to be exact. And King David was a go-getter. He saw the beauty of the world and the greatness of God in it.
But far too often, the story of King David overshadows the story of another action-taker: his wife, Abigail. Abigail was known for her intelligence and beauty. In fact, I Samuel 25:3 states flat out, "The woman was smart and good looking." (Now that's a legacy to leave. The Bible calling you a beauty with brains!) Abigail is introduced to us through a story where she is called to save her entire people from David's wrath after her first husband, Nabal, insults David.
David and his men were riding to Nabal's land to slaughter his people, but Abigail's servants ran to her so she could solve the problem. Why? Because they knew she was smart enough to come up with a plan and brave enough to put that plan into action.
When Abigail heard of the impending danger, I Samuel 25:18 says, "She lost no time" and came up with a plan to save her people.
Long story short - she did save her people. David was so impressed with her that sometime later when Nabal died David immediately asked Abigail to be his wife. She, in turn, quickly said yes.
See the pattern? We remember David and Abigail because they lived lives worth remembering. They saw needs, they fulfilled them. They saw love, they latched onto it. They heard a call, they answered it.
Abigail's wisdom, fantastic as it was, wasn't worth anything without her willingness to act.
Biblical characters, we are not, but people of action we can be. Do you see a need? Do you have a dream, an idea brewing? Why don't you see it through?
Satan is a champ at telling us lies. Lies such as, you aren't enough. Not smart enough. Not talented enough. Not strong enough. Not fill-in-the-blank enough. He knows exactly which lie he can tell you to keep your dreams in the box that Dave Matthews told us about.
John 10:10 tells us in explicit terms that Satan has come to "steal, kill, and destroy." Steal your joy, kill your creativity, and destroy the glory that your action-taking could give God.
But do you know what the second part of that verse says? Our Jesus is talking and he's saying words so sweet they deserve some boldface:
I have come that they may have life
and have it to the full.
Let's take a minute and explore this word life as it's used in this verse. In the original text it doesn't simply mean bio or a living organism. It means zoe - to live! Salud! Cheers! This kind of life means to be alive and present and thriving. Some versions of this verse have the accompanying adjective "abundantly" or "superfluously" with zoe. This means so much life and joy and celebration that a person is overflowing with it. Dancing and singing and joy and you know, LIFE!
This, my friends, is the kind of living God wants for you. A life of living creatively, using your gifts, and having a curious heart. No, not in the name of hedonism or for your own pleasure, but in the name of glorifying God.
The biggest lie Satan can tell you is that living abundantly is living frivolously. Friend, living with joy and in pursuit of your dreams is a beautiful freedom that has been bought for you through Jesus Christ.
Abigail's willingness to act saved lives and enriched her own. Her risk not only led to foreseeable rewards, but unforeseeable ones. She never imagined her bravery would make her a queen.
So let's be like Abigail. What in your life is risky, but deserves a leap? Maybe a call to adoption? An idea for a business? Going back to school? Or simply taking a calligraphy class?
Hear me, friend: take these chances. Take these chances for yourself, sure. But truly take them to glorify the Lord. Your freedom in Him is worthy of doing great things for Him. Because there is one thing that's better than life and that's His love (Psalm 63:3, written by King David himself). His love is worth making the most of your life.
I don't want to be another ant, marching along and never looking at the beautiful opportunities of life, putting my precious chances in a box until a better time awaits. I want to be like Abigail and bravely dare to say, I'm capable of at least changing my own life, at most changing the world and I'm going to do it now.
God of Abigail,
Thank you for the testimony of her life. You instilled in her the ability to enact change, to make the most of the now. Because of Jesus, we too are free to make change, to make something beautiful, to make the world better. Fulfill the visions you have placed in our hearts. Always helping us to remember that it's for your glory. May we too hear the words David said to Abigail, "Praise be to the Lord. He sent you!" Precious Lord, since your love is better than life, let me use my life to glorify you.
Lord, may it be so.
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